Excluded items in virus scan still possibly being scanned?

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Level 1

3 points

Excluded items in virus scan still possibly being scanned?

So I recently excluded my newly-created Time Machine backups (located in /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/) from being scanned by Sophos Anti-Virus, but on the scan I just did, I found that over 1 million files were being scanned. Before I used Time Machine, Sophos was scanning around 700,000-800,000 files. I haven't added anything to justify that extra 300,000 files or so. So, what am I missing to exclude? Do I need to exclude the actual Time Machine application now?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Jul 31, 2011 4:34 PM

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Answer 1

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Jul 31, 2011 4:36 PM in response to xTRIGGER092x

Why are you running Sophos at all? What good do you think it does you?

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Answer 2

xTRIGGER092x Author

Level 1

3 points

Jul 31, 2011 4:47 PM in response to Linc Davis

Linc Davis wrote:

Why are you running Sophos at all? What good do you think it does you?

I'm running it because I have many Windows computers on my network. Granted, they all have AV on them but I'd rather not pass anything through my Mac to them anyways.

Though, it's not like Macs are 100% immune to malware. There ARE trojans and spyware for them (though rare), if not viruses. If I end up getting unlucky and receive one, I'd prefer to know about it and get it disposed of by Sophos as opposed to never knowing about it because I wanted a few extra megabytes of system resources.

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Answer 3

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Jul 31, 2011 5:12 PM in response to xTRIGGER092x

You have built-in protection against downloaded Mac malware that's just as good, or just as bad, as what Sophos provides. If you want to be able to detect Windows malware, use ClamXav. Nothing else. Obviously Windows malware won't infect your Mac, so you only need to check new files.

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Answer 4

etresoft

Level 9

56,698 points

Jul 31, 2011 5:54 PM in response to xTRIGGER092x

Virus scanning a Time Machine backup is worse than useless. You don't want to take chances with your backups. What good would it do to keep backups but them corrupt them with some virus scanner? If you are scanning files as they are created and downloaded on your Mac, then they will be checked before they make it into Time Machine.

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